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University Daily Kansan, October 6, 1981
Opinion
Same game, new toys
Underground missiles, B-1 bombers, radar-evading aircraft, attack submarines, improved command and control systems.
The administration's newly announced plans for upgrading the U.S. defense system sound more and more like part of an incredibly involved game of 21st Century GI Joe, and they are about as comprehensible to the average American.
Of all the options that have been batted back and forth, it's hard to know which one, if any, is reasonable. Last Friday, President Reagan unveiled the newest version of his beat-the-Soviets military scheme, calling for the construction of 100 MX missiles, to be deployed in underground silos now occupied by Titan and Minutemen missiles, the production of the once-scrapped B-1 bomber and the development of B-1 Stealth aircraft.
Senior defense officials set the estimated cost of the president's proposal at $180.3 billion over the next six years. That, of course, will be subject to change.
In fact, luckily for the nation, the whole plan is still subject to change.
Before any of Reagan's plans can go into effect, they must be approved by Congress, and all indications are that they will not be rocketing their way through.
Senate Democrats were already making noises on Saturday about the infeasibility
of parts of the plan. Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri said, "The B-I was a turkey, is a turkey and always will be a turkey." Senate Minority Leader Robert Byrd of West Virginia said that the MX plan would not "close the window of vulnerability" and that the B-I would be obsolete almost as soon as it was produced.
Many other questions remain, such as how the proposed superhard silos for the MX missiles could resist increasingly accurate Soviet warheads, when most Pentagon experts say they cannot. Or how the proposed long-term options to be developed—like ballistic missile defense of the MX—would help. These questions are sure to be asked again and again until someone provides the answers.
Thank goodness (or the Founding Fathers) that the defense strategy is not the decision of just one man. Thank goodness for open and frank discussion on a vitally important national matter. It is crucial that Congress not become a rubber-stamp organ for the president's military proposals, as it was for many of his budget proposals. Only through careful examination of all possibilities can it hope to come up with a workable and reasonably safe plan.
That is, if there is such a thing in this world of military power-plays and GI Joe games that are played for keeps.
Bugs Bunny and companions teach creativity, not violence
Oct. 11, 1980—a historic date for the motion picture and television industry. On that fall day, 21 years ago, Bugs Bunny and his LoneyTunes tunes preemerred on ABC television.
Since then, the "wascally wabbit" and friends have moved to CBS and become part of the longest continuous Saturday morning children's program in the history of network television.
Other than that, relatively few changes have been made in the animated cartoon's format since Warner Brothers first introduced Bugs Bunny. The animation is done by Daffy Daffy and a host of others in feature films.
- Laughing children continue to imitate the immortal voice characterizations of Mel Blanc, from "What's up, Doc?" to "Th-th-ththat's all, folks!"
Yet some people cannot resist throwing rocks at a good thing, and Bugs and his LoneyTunes
REBECCA
CHANEY
pal, the Roadrunner, have become embroiled in a controversy that refuses to die—that of violence in children's television.
But to him, and to every proponent of this idea who has followed him I say, "Howwash."
I do not know who first suggested that Bugs Bunny's antics with Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd, along with Wile E. Coyote's non-stop harassment of the Roadrunner, were causing aggressive behavior in children and providing a negative influence in general.
It would be very foolish to deny the influence of children's television in general or of Bugs Bunny
To the contrary, I firmly believe that Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Sylvester and Tweedy all and the other LooneyTunes characters had a profound influence on my childhood.
My parents were always very strict where television was concerned, and I was allowed only one cartoon on most Saturday mornings. The ones we always chose "The Bugs Bunny- Roadrunner Show."
Perhaps violence on television was not such an issue 20 years ago as it is today. Regardless, I do not recall ever being impressed by any so-called horror movies depicted during those hours in fantasy.
What I do remember of those hours is my first conscious exposure to and appreciation of what we adults call "culture," particularly classical music. It has been a long-held belief of mine that my first introduction to the finer things of life was through Bunny cartoons.
If I had lived the rest of my life in hermitage, I would still be able to whistle or hum all the Straus waltzes, the William Till Overture, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Doorak's New World Symphony—all absorbed while watching Carnegie's dances dancing a ballet as he tauled Emler Fudd.
As I got older, I began appreciating the literary and historical allusions that fill each and every LoneyTune clips: one Saturday show may have Elmer Fudd or Capt. John Smith and Tiny Tim,unas, the next week may find Yosemite Sam in a spot of Mark Twain's gold-paned dinnings.
I also got my first taste of the big band era during those Saturday mornings. Two episodes in particular stick in my memory. One featured a movie where the eyeballs eyes unmistakably resembling those of Bing Crosby, crooning "Moonlight Bay." In the other episode, Bugs Burny sang "Working can wait, This is paradise," paraphrasing the Frank Sinatra-Tommy Dorsey version of "Heaven Can
Roadrunner's escapades with Wile E. Coyote aroused my first curiosities about basic mechanical principles, such as the workings of pulleys and levers.
But violence? Certainly, I never felt compelled to hit or bite my younger brothers or sisters while watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon—we were all too busy laughing.
Besides, Elmer Fudd never caught Daffy
Bids, and Wile E. never hurt anyone but himself,
when he tried to kill them.
If the LoneyTunes gang made or make any sociol-political comment, it is not in support of violence. What Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner do is teach something that has always been a part of American thought: that the most creative, the most inventive individual will succeed.
'Ol Yosemite Sam, always trying to get all the gold for himself, never got the best of Bugs Bunny. That, more than anything my parents helped teach that selflessness does' pay.
Don't misunderstand, I am not putting Bugs Bunny on a level with the likes of "Sesame Street," which is meant to teach in an entertaining manner.
Indeed, those hours spent in the company of Bugs Enney were even more effective, being pure, hilarious entertainment that did more than teach. They aroused curiosity.
So do not tell me that Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner promote violent behavior in children. Such notions may find acceptance among those who have never appreciated the loveable "wascally wabbit," but their arguments will never, ever, convince me.
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'Come on now, Rah, Rah, Reaganomics!'
toe /ən'tɔg 'θi
Reign on Senate board unchallenged
At the University of Kansas, there are some things students can take for granted.
Parking tickets magically appear on windshields at 4:45 every afternoon. The sun disappears promptly after the last classes on Friday afternoon and does not reappear until Monday morning. And the 16 KU on Wheels buses run on time.
For years, the bus system has run smoothly, in a seemingly perpetual motion. And that reliability is largely the result of the careful engineering and maintenance of Transportation Board, which runs the system.
Each of the board's seven members serve for two years. And Steve McMurry, Lawrence special student, has been chairman of the board for almost seven years, since the fall of 1974.
Well, so what? What's the big deal if the same student has headed the transportation board for some reason?
McMurry seems happy, most bus riders seem happiest, and best all of the buses roll to a stop.
Well, this is the big deal: As chairman, Murry is the most important member of what has been called the most important Student Senate board. And in having the same student hold such a position for six years, we may be getting too much of a good thing.
As one student body officer said in an unurganted move, Steve McMurray "runs the
And it is unsettling to have the same person running the show for so many years, especially when you know someone's trying to
Apparently, harried student body presidents have appointed McMurray chairman year after year. They know he can handle the bus system, and they'd rather not be bothered with it.
After all, the transportation board carries a heavy load. It runs the handicapped van program. It helps set bus rates, redraw routes and negotiate with the Lawrence Bus Co. which
supplies the vehicles for KU on Wheels. The bus system alone has a $450.00 annual budget.
"Face it, the bus system is a company, or a mini-company. MMc Murry said last week. "And in any company, reliability and dependability are important."
Under McMurry's leadership, the bus system usually is reliable and dependable. And it is living proof that continuous leadership offers some advantages.
In fact, the University Daily Kansan would be
VANESSA HERRON
a much better paper if the top editors served for four years
And Student Senate probably will be more efficient if its members served for several years.
Both the Kansan and the Senate probably think professional newspapers and clear legislation are important. But they also see that giving a chance to experience in leadership is even more important.
In the early '70s, when the Student Senate first took over the bus system from the Lawrence Bus Co., the transportation board needed the strong leadership that McMurray offered.
According to old Kansan reports, the system had too many routes, not enough buses and was not well connected.
During the years, McMurry introduced bus passes and arranged to have board members serve two years in order to learn the ins and outs of driving. During the last few years that changed the transportation committee into
a board—and increased its decision-making power.
"Sometimes a single person has to work projects through," McMurry said. "Some things can't be committed and boarded and talked to death."
After the system began to make progress, McMurry kept applying for the chairmanship. He said he wanted to protect it from the tinkering and administration whose abilities, well, varied widely.
"I couldn't allow the board to backslide from the progress it had made," he said. "I've put enough of my time into the system that I feel protective of it."
Now, however, the system runs smoothly. And it seems that the need for long-term leaders has grown.
Even McMurry, who first became chairman in 1974, when most KU freshmen were in the sixth grade, said he might decide to step down next semester.
"I really don't want to do this indefinitely," he said. "You have to draw the line somewhere."
The only question is, should it really be up to chairmen to draw their own lines, to limit their
Technically, the student body president appoints chairmen and the Senate approves the
But it is a tendency of the Student Senate—and most of human beings—to reintrain incumbents in office.
To counteract that tendency, perhaps the Student Senate should limit chairmen to two or three.
By all indications, Steve McMurry has done a good job. He works hard and he deserves the Senate's trust. But what about the next chairman who decides to stav and stav and stav?
If the Student Senate continues to let chairmen 'draw the line' on their own terms of office, it
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Middle class has no conception of poverty
Don Munday's sateir "High time great society he bint dust" (Oct. 1 Kanak) unfortunately ratified.
When I worked as a social worker, I became aounding board for middle-class opinions about work.
Middle-class people don't understand the pain of poverty.
They don't know what it's like to go three days a week without meat.
They can't see the isolation of being old and unable to afford travel to visit relatives, yet unable to afford inviting them to your house, either.
They have never felt the lump in your throat when you tell your child, "We can't afford it," and all he was asking for was to go to a friend's skating party.
They can't understand that begging is humiliating, whether for heat for your house or for food.
They won't understand until it happens to someone close to them. Then they will realize the purpose of the experiment.
Disabled seek solutions
Neal McChristy Lawrence senior
Lawrence senior
Neal McChristv
To the Editor:
I want to clarify a statement in your article on the Students Concerned with Disabilities forum (http://www.newwork.com/about/disabilities).
In my speech, I offered no solutions on how to fight stereotypes. I said, instead, that two examples of how people deal with a stereotype were to accept it or to reject it by acting in the opposite way. Neither of these solutions are clear. We use the full range of emotions we have as humans.
Some solutions in overcoming stereotypes involve a revolution in thinking on the part of the disabled, the nondisabled and educators. As people with disabilities and those concerned with
disability join together, we will find a sense of identity that will, in turn, inspire my beliefs and my passions.
And, as stereotypes also have some roots in economic reality, an economic solution to increase employment of disabled persons is badly needed. It would be important, new solutions not vet thought of will emerse
Otherwise, your article succinctly represented my speech
Janice M. McKown President, Students Concerned With Disabilities
Preps v. non-preps
To the editor:
It seems funny to me that the only bad remarks pertaining to the "preppies" are those expressed by the so-called "no-preps". How often, however, do you read about preps speaking out against the non-preps? Not often, if at all.
It's fair to say, then, that the non-preps are in a one-sided battle that will never have a winner. Sometimes I'm not sure whether the non-preps are mocking the preps' style of dress or the importance of thinking doesn't spread outside of the non-preps.
Darryl Daniel
Topeka sophomore
Also, the next time the outspoken non-prep shops for clothes, he should try on an iizd. Maybe he'll find himself saying, "Hey, these don't bite after all."
Whatever the reasons, I leave all you non-
speaking pieces of advice. If "you can't
beat 'em, join 'em."
If you bring "class" into the matter, the preps, the nice guys, outrank the non-preps by far. Now, why is it always the non-preps speaking out? Why don't they speak out on something more creative or something that has disturbed the public?
10 to the Editor.
It looks as though they're at it again.
Unnecessary sidewalk
For the third year in a row, the University paving gang is laying a new walk in Marvin Grove between the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art and the campanile. Now they are crossing this park direct between these two landmarks, providing a concrete path where people would probably prefer to walk on the earth. Is this even a frequently used path?
As the University squanders what must be hundreds of thousands of dollars on crisscrossing the park with walks, constructing monumental, Stalinistic steps on the library and watering the sidewalls, the Student Senate is paring dollars and cents from student organization budgets and the library is falling hopelessly behind in acquisitions.
But then, maybe they finance their building projects with profits from the student union
Timothy Pogacar
Lawrence graduate student
Letters policy
The University Daily Kanan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not exceed 500 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include the class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kanan reserves the right to edit or reject letters.